Posts Tagged ‘aisha ali’

This story in the Guardian today is not at all a sign of the British state’s rude democratic health.

People may have missed it – it’s not a large article and not everybody reads the Guardian – so it’s worth extracting and commenting upon.

George Galloway‘s former secretary has been arrested, along with a Metropolitan police officer, on suspicion of data protection offences.

Afiz Khan, an officer with the Met’s SO15 anti-terrorism branch, was arrested on Wednesday, along with Aisha Ali-Khan, who until recently worked as a PA for the Respect MP for Bradford West.

Ali-Khan was suspended by Galloway in October when he publicly accused her of being a Met police “agent” running an undercover operation from his constituency office. He demanded an investigation by the home secretary, Theresa May, into what he called a “dirty tricks” campaign orchestrated by Khan. The arrests are unrelated to these allegations, which are the subject of an investigation.

Police are trying to ascertain how Galloway got hold of private emails between Ali-Khan and Khan, which he showed to journalists as “incontrovertible evidence” that there was a plot against him. Ali-Khan insists her Hotmail address was hacked and accuses Galloway of sanctioning the hacking, a charge Galloway has always denied.

Ali-Khan told the Guardian in October that Khan was her husband, producing the Muslim nikah marriage certificate to prove the two wed in 2009. She has always claimed the emails merely showed a husband counselling his wife in how to deal with bullying and misogyny in Respect’s Bradford office. Both Khan and Ali-Khan have been bailed to return pending further inquiries in early March 2013.

He is suspected of misusing Met police databases and abusing his position as a police officer, and has been on restricted duties since October.

“A very senior officer in SO15 has been feeding disinformation aimed at damaging me to a national newspaper and to others, aided by a member of staff in Bradford who has now been suspended,’ Galloway said. ‘This involved him using the Met email as well as creating at least two false email addresses to spread the deceit. I have incontrovertible evidence. He either did this a freelance or it was sanctioned by his superiors. I will be asking the Home Secretary tomorrow (Monday) to act on this and also bringing it to the attention of the Speaker of the House of Commons.’ ”

The Daily Mail (not known to favour Galloway) published this on the 18th of October,

Galloway’s spokesman and associate for the last 36 years, Ron McKay, said: ‘Aisha Ali Khan had become George’s aide after turning up at the Respect headquarters in Bradford before his election campaign. I think she used to be a teacher.

‘There was some concern that she had been involved with the Labour Party. She worked for George in Bradford and in London – and while he was away in Indonesia in June he gave her the keys to his house in Streatham..

‘A short while after George came back there was a break-in at his house when he, his wife and Aisha were in, and the burglars made off with a parliamentary computer.

‘Local police were investigating – but it was then that Aisha introduced Afiz Khan to George as a police officer and security expert who could help him beef up his home security.

‘It transpired a few hours later that Insp Khan had declared to the cops investigating the burglary that they would find his fingerprints in the house because he had been sleeping in the house with Aisha while George was away.

‘That was George’s rude introduction to what had been going on.

The Guardian continues,

“Among the ‘allegations’ made by Officer K through the Met police email was that he had evidence that there was voter fraud in the Bradford by-election – which Galloway won with a majority of more than 10,000.

The officer also slept in George’s house in Streatham, London, along with the female agent on Galloway’s staff, Ms A, when the MP was away, and he had to confess this when investigation of a break-in to the home would have discovered his fingerprints and DNA.Galloway said: “I understand inquiries are still ongoing so for that reason I cannot comment.” Ali-Khan faces a disciplinary hearing on Monday about the reasons for her suspension.”

Without in any way backing Galloway, and with all the comments we could make about him, we have to say that the police’s role whole story stinks.